


Faded Line

by Skeren



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Ghosts, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skeren/pseuds/Skeren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud just wishes that things were simple again, like they were before he had <i>peace</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Faded Line

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted November of 2008

He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, resting his forearms on his legs and staring blankly down at the water under his swinging feet. Here was a place nobody where thought to look for him. Priscilla pretty much ensured that nobody would bother him, the girl’s crush having faded to a wistful admiration as she’d gotten older, and she, at least, seemed to realize that everyone needed a little time alone.

And to think the girl had once declared she’d marry him someday. Shaking his head over the irony of his one co-conspirator being a little girl, he lifted his head to turn his attention to the sky above. Junon was a more prosperous place now than it had been when he’d chased Sephiroth, but the electric towers were the same. Dangerous and difficult to get up to.

He didn’t need the dolphin to get up there anymore, and when he did see the beast, he made sure to give him a treat. 

Things had been simpler at that point, in a lot of ways, than they were now. 

Now everything was peaceful but... then he’d just had one goal. Find Sephiroth. 

Now... he had what? A head full of his own memories that didn’t mesh together properly, a chunk of memories that he’d stolen from a dying man, and a longing to talk to someone he’d killed several times and who he couldn’t rightly claim he’d ever seen sane up close. He also couldn’t forget the broken one sided relationship that never went anywhere and the friendships that seemed to lead primarily to introspection.

All very healthy, that.

As he lowered his gaze back to the horizon, he felt a hard breeze, the wind making his clothing snap a little where it was less snug. It was relaxing. Simple. 

Even the deliveries refused to just be simple anymore, so he could really use more things that were uncomplicated. Stupid ‘healer of the world’ status. He hadn’t asked for that at _all_.

But he had it. 

He shook his head slightly, closing his eyes to take in the breeze more fully, only to have it immediately stop. Partially. He could feel it against his legs, but his body wasn’t getting the feel of the wind anymore.

That made no sense.

Opening his eyes, he turned his head to look, quietly dreading that Tifa had taken it into her head to hunt him down.

She hadn’t. 

He half wished that she _had_.

Staring at the leather clad legs, at the silver bands just above the knee, he dreaded the idea of looking further up. He wasn’t armed. There hadn’t been any dramatic entrance or petty vandalisms to warn this was coming. This was his safe spot. 

And Sephiroth wasn’t supposed to come to his safe spot.

Sephiroth wasn’t supposed to appear without warning, period.

“Cloud.” The voice was low, the lack of the mocking edge jerking his attention upwards. Yes, it was Sephiroth, and he didn’t trust him even an inch more because Masamune wasn’t in sight. He’d been hit with those hands, and the man knew how to deliver a blow, when he felt like it.

“How are you here?” He tensed, knowing his hostile question might get a negative reaction... but when the man moved, he only sat, one foot dangling over the side of the power tower. 

“Haven’t you been wishing quite a lot lately Cloud?”

“Not for you.”

“Especially for me.”

He didn’t know how to react to... this. This calm, quiet conversation was eerie, unreal. It made him hope to jerk awake from restless sleep like he hadn’t in weeks. “Why would I ever wish for _you_? You ruined my life. By rights, I should be trying to kill you now.”

“And yet, you aren’t.” The other man shook his head, and the wind he’d blocked blew hair across his hands. He saw it happen, but the contact was ghostly at best, unsubstantial. “Maybe you realize it wouldn’t accomplish anything?”

“How are you here Sephiroth?”

The man laughed, looking him in the eye, and the slightly mocking edge was there, but not the same one he was familiar with. “I’m here because you haven’t forgotten me Cloud. But just for now.”

He scowled slightly at the answer, uneasy because of it, and he was going to retort when the man moved, making him jerk back. It wasn’t an attack. It was a kiss. A ghostly, warm kiss that he could almost feel, and then it was gone.

He didn’t remember closing his eyes, but he must have. At the very least he must have blinked, because the man was gone.

He still heard the warm laugh on the wind that had followed the ghostly touch, but he was alone.

He didn’t understand it.

The brief moment had been confusing, but shockingly simple.

Just what he’d been wishing for.


End file.
